EPISODE 113 -  “BIG STAR, SMALL SCREEN - A CONVERSATION WITH FRONT ROW CLASSICS’ BRANDON DAVIS” - 11/10/25

In the early days of television, many classic film actors were hesitant—or even outright refused—to appear on TV for a multitude of reasons. Many thought that TV was low-brow. Others thought they would get overexposed and it would somehow diminish their box-office power. Slowly stars like LORETTA YOUNG, BARBARA STANWYCK, ROBERT MONTGOMERY, and LUCILLE BALL figured out that TV could enhance and elongate their popularity and appeal. Slowly, classic stars began to pop up on the boob-tube. Joining us this week is BRANDON DAVIS, host extraordinaire of the fantastic podcast Front Row Classics, who will discuss the migration of classic film stars to the small screen and how it affected their popularity and careers. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen IDA LUPINO doing her best “Norma Desmond” on an episode of “Charlie’s Angels” in 1977.  

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

Columbo: The Series (2017), by Scott V. Palmer;

Wagon Train: The Television Series (2011), by James Rosin;

I Love Lucy: The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever (1998), by Michael McClay;

Perry Mason TV Show Book (1987), by Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill;

Wikipedia.com;

TCM.com;

IBDB.com;

IMDBPro.com;

TV Series Mentioned:

I Love Lucy 

The Lucy Show

The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour

Here’s Lucy

The Barbara Stanwyck Show

Dr. Kildare

Gunsmoke

Perry Mason

Route 66

Wagon Train

The Big Valley

Batman

Petticoat Junction

The Brady Bunch

The Carol Burnett Show

Columbo

Murder She Wrote

The Love Boat

Fantasy Island 

Hotel

Falcon Crest

Charlie’s Angels

The Colbys

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